A Marriage of Inconvenience
by Skylight Candytuft
Summary: What started out as a convenient enough arrangement for the both of them could spiral into something more. A Gaara and Ino romance fic.
1. Ch 1: Between Sand and Leaf

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the main plot of the Naruto universe do not belong to me.

**A/N: **After nearly two months, _A Marriage of Inconvenience_ is finally up and reposted and revamped. Yes, revamped. My apologies to the reviewers for mercilessly deleting it in the first place but I sincerely hope I did better in this, umm, new version.

**Chapter One**

**Between Sand and Leaf**

It had been raining nonstop for three days and the streets of Konoha gave testimony to the fact by sucking on the slippers of those souls courageous enough to brave the weather. With the chilly demeanor the weather donned, it was no wonder that one of the more prominent coffeehouses was especially busy as more civilians and ninjas flocked to the inviting warmth of the sights and smells contained therein.

As Kage of a large Village, he had never found the time to enter a coffeehouse for his daily rousing beverage. Besides, he liked his coffee black and strong and he was already well-versed in its preparation ever since he was old enough to distinguish between sugar and salt. As to why he currently found himself beyond the swinging glass doors and into the cozily lit interior of the shop, he had no certain idea.

Nonetheless, he ordered his coffee with precise instructions on its preparations. The staff gave him funny looks before they hastened to fulfill his requests and he was on his way to a hopefully empty table when a flash of light peach collided into his figure and spilled an ice-cold beverage into his chest. He touched a finger to the icy substance splattered all over his nondescript shirt and brought it to his lips.

Bittersweet.

"Gomen nasai!" the figure mumbled in apology as he helped her scramble up from the floor. She smiled sheepishly at him, completely unaware of his prominent status, before hastily wiping at his shirt with a napkin with the printed logo of the coffeehouse.

"That is enough," he enunciated quietly as he gently held her hand off his person by the wrist.

"It's a good thing you weren't bringing your coffee or I'd have to buy one for you, too," she joked with a sheepish grin.

"That is not necessary," he intoned. "Now, if you will excuse me."

"Oh. Sure. Sorry."

Her movements were precise and graceful as she moved away and he wondered if she was an active kunoichi. Such movements, no matter how clumsy, were only achieved through training.

"Ice latte for Sora!"

"Black coffee for Shinn!"

"Shinn-san?" a voice asked him, holding a cup up in his face. He frowned when he recognized the cheerful blue eyes looking up at him in apology. "I paid for the coffee as an apology so we're quits."

"That was —"

"Not necessary, I know," she supplied hurriedly. "But I wanted to do you good this turn so here." She shoved his cup into his hands and smiled brightly. "Black coffee for Shinn-san."

He accepted the coffee with a murmured word of thanks before he stalked off in the direction of his table. A scarred Jounin was about to occupy it when he noticed the blank, green-eyed stare directed at him. The taller man immediately vacated the seat without further ado.

Amazingly, the coffee was just the right taste he wanted but with a little something extra he could not place. Cinnamon, perhaps? He had specifically ordered that marshmallows were not to be found in his cup or any of the other frills they might have planned for his coffee. This one, however, was a welcome change.

He looked out the large windows and vaguely realized that an abundance of flowers spilled from the flowerboxes in the window sills. Flowers were a rarity and a luxury in his homeland where water was scarce. He had already spearheaded a committee to work on the underground river they found on the border of the Village to take care of that problem. Once they could tap into the source, water may not be much of a problem in Suna anymore.

Once they had a source of water, he would like to see flowers in Suna. The previous leaders of the Village had disdained the trivialities to focus on the dwindling strength of their domain. With his birth alone, he accomplished that one endeavor but the rest of the Village had fallen into abandon as a result of their efforts. He vowed to change things in his years as Kazekage and he would begin with flowers. Flowers in the middle of the desert would be a symbolic display of their growing power, not to mention an extravagant one. The world would be amazed.

But first, he must have a talk with the resident florist of Konohagakure no Sato — Yamanaka Ino.

* * *

Ino had not been very hard to find. She had stuck in the warmth of her family's shop with a magazine exclusively for the modern kunoichi — or so the title said. Her feet tapped the floor to the rhythm of soft music that whispered from a battered blue and silver radio that bravely played out the ballad from its precarious position atop a shelf crammed full with vases and pots and arrangements of different colors.

When he stepped into the cozy establishment, he was vaguely reminded of his previous stop in the coffeehouse. The small shop seemed to reverberate with the same homey vibes.

"Yamanaka Flowers, can I help you?" she asked him automatically when the jingling bells signaled his entrance. Her eyes widened for an instant before they creased in a smile. "Kazekage-sama."

Strangely, he was the one more surprised by the meeting.

"The girl from the coffeehouse," he muttered. "You."

She laughed softly. "Yes, Shinn-san."

He frowned briefly at her teasing use of his alias. She had seen through his façade and seemed not the least bit dazed by the fact at all. That struck him as a refreshing change. Most people tended to regard him in awe and fear upon recognition.

"I would like to know about flowers, Yamanaka-san," he intoned curtly, rendered mildly uncomfortable by the laughter lurking in her blue eyes.

"May I ask why, Kazekage-sama?"

"We are working on an irrigation project in Suna at the moment," he explained. "Perhaps in the next year, we could grow flowers more tolerant to the climate in our Village."

"That is wonderful news, Kazekage-sama," she agreed. "Very well, what varieties do you have in mind?"

He frowned. "Something that doesn't die easily."

She laughed. "Of course. But your description could fit a lot of variations of cacti."

"I do not want cacti."

She frowned. "Well, you could grow herbs for the time being just so you can at least benefit from the harvest. Then you can add evening primrose or desert marigold because those two might probably tolerate the climate best."

Ino noticed that the Kazekage was an exemplary student who committed her words to heart. Such thoughts made her vaguely wonder if he was brilliant as an Academy student but with the tales Sakura relayed to her, she doubted he was even admitted into an Academy. Besides, Genin selection in Sunagakure was probably different from the methods of Konoha.

More out of whim than anything else, she also told him the various meanings a single stalk could contain. She wisely reasoned that this was just so he refrained from using the wrong flowers to convey a message in his diplomatic conventions. Some people tend to be quite sensitive to that kind of thing.

Gaara, on the other hand, was enjoying himself immensely for the first time in nearly two decades although it could hardly be derived from the stony expression on his face. Unbeknownst to all, he had a strange inclination for learning new things and ever since Naruto changed his pessimistic and narcissistic philosophy, the emotionless Kazekage had endeavored to find out more about the world.

"This used to be my favorite," Ino murmured wistfully as she reached for a blossom with a single layer of petals. "Akizakura."

"And now?" he asked with a skeptical eye.

She laughed. "Now, I favor this one." She held up a clutch of star-shaped blooms. "The columbine. What about you, Kazekage-sama? Any particular favorites from among these?"

He picked up a lily from the batch. "This one."

She smiled and explained more about lilies as they whittled the rainy afternoon away in quiet conversation. Occasionally, a customer or two would interrupt their talk and Ino would have to bustle about as Gaara stood to one side in quiet inspection of a range of blooms but they would always resume their soft discussion on the various properties, uses, and quirks of the plants.


	2. Ch 2: Pardon?

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the main plot of the Naruto universe do not belong to me.

**Chapter Two**

**Pardon?**

The sound of a pencil or any other writing instrument tapping against a fairly solid surface was a common enough sound in the office of the Kazekage. While most would perform such absentminded actions out of deep thought, the Kazekage himself utilized this method to convey his deepest feelings of impatience or boredom. Currently, the most important man of Sunagakure no Sato was tapping his pen on the edge of his table with a rather grim expression on his mostly emotionless features as a Jounin of the Hidden Sand recited a report for his convenience.

Unconsciously, his mind drifted to thoughts of flowers. When his mind drifted to flowers, his train of thought inevitably ended up in a certain flower shop in Konohagakure no Sato and its resident florist.

He shook his head to clear his mind of such thoughts. Such musings could not be allowed within the office of the Kazekage; not when there was a whole Village depending on his sanity.

"K-Kazekage-sama?"

"That will be enough, Saicho-san." The Kazekage stood up and dusted his robes ceremoniously. His green eyes spelled ominous warnings for the Jounin if he did not have enough sense to vacate his current location.

Saicho-san, most fortunately, arrived at the right conclusion. "H-Hai, Kazekage-sama."

As soon as the door closed behind the Jounin, he took out a small packet of dried leaves and petals and a small smile crossed his usually stony façade. It was a parting gift from Yamanaka Ino just before he left for Suna two months ago. He wondered on occasion how something _dead_ could trouble him so much.

"It's not really dead, Gaara-sama," Ino had laughingly told him when he remarked about the potpourri. "You see, even if it _is_ technically dead, its spirit lives on. See? You can smell its essence still."

He tucked the sachet back into the folds of his voluminous robes and made a decision. He had to make a trip to Konohagakure no Sato.

* * *

"Hmft! You still have a tendency to feint to the left, Ino-chan."

Ino grinned as she fell to the grass beside the woman she considered both sensei and older sister. "But I beat you up pretty good, ne?"

"Don't get so cocky, brat." Mitarashi Anko closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were dancing with mischief. "I heard someone spent hours in the shop two months back."

Ino opened an eye. "Hmm?"

"The Kazekage," Anko clarified.

"Oh. Him."

A dark eyebrow rose in amused inquiry. "And?"

"And we talked. About flowers. Nothing much."

Anko snorted. "The Kazekage wanted to talk about flowers? Are you kidding me, Yamanaka? Why the frickin' hell would a Kazekage want to talk about flowers?"

"They've found a major water source. The Kazekage-sama plans to fill it with plants to sort of display the power of Suna. At least, that's what I derived from him."

"Yamanaka, the first man to pay attention to you in years and you read his mind," Anko snorted. "That was rude. You should have at least waited until the second date."

Ino smirked. "In the first place, it wasn't even a date."

"You certainly bought him a drink. That was rather forward, don't you think?"

"Senpai!" she growled. "That was rather uncalled for. How could you say that when you literally dragged Kakashi-sensei —"

"Shh! Someone's coming," Anko murmured, her hand instantly clamped over her protégé's mouth.

Ino nodded in agreement. "It's him. Kazekage-sama."

* * *

The leaves crackled under his sandaled feet as he strode towards the grounds Yamanaka Ino was supposed to be training in, according to the Chuunin running the flower shop that day. He had found the girl flipping idly through the same magazine Ino had leafed through two months ago, the same battered radio sounding out a quicker beat from its position on the shelf. She had taken one look at him and the gourd at his back and she immediately stood up like a wet-behind-the-ears cadet.

"Yamanaka-san?" he had asked her softly but from the look on the girl's face, he might as well have barked the question.

"She's out in the woods in the seven o'clock direction training," she answered smartly.

Frowning, Gaara had left for the said woods without another word. Even after approximately ten years of having the Shukaku extracted from his person, there were still people who regarded him in fear if not awe. Yamanaka Ino had been one of the few who met him head on with a teasing smile, even finding enough humor to poke fun at his use of an alias in a small coffeehouse.

He shook his head when he stepped into a small clearing with two women lying on the ground, seemingly exhausted after an intense sparring session. One of them looked slightly familiar with her rather revealing net shirt covered only by an open coat, her dark hair spread around her. Yamanaka Ino was the other one as identified by the uneven strands of pale golden hair fanning around her head.

"Kazekage-sama," the dark-haired kunoichi drawled with a strange smile. "What a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?"

Gaara frowned again. He was not used to people addressing him in such a manner. It was a refreshing change from the cringing, scraping fashion other ninjas seemed to adopt in his presence.

"I need to speak to Ino-san," he stated quietly in what he hoped was a polite enough manner. There was something in this dark-haired woman that was strangely off. "May I borrow her for a moment?"

"Oi. Yamanaka."

Ino groaned wearily. "I'm up, senpai."

Ino dusted the dry leaves from her sparring outfit and glared at the other woman. "My sensei, Mitarashi Anko," she introduced with a quelling glance at the grinning Jounin.

"Is there anything you want to know about flowers, Kazekage-sama?" Ino asked him politely and finally, on her feet.

"May I speak with you privately for a moment, Ino-san?"

Ino shot a look at Anko who nodded in agreement. She nodded to the Kazekage. "Alright."

She ducked under several leafy boughs with the Kazekage in close pursuit. After a short distance from the clearing, they came upon a small creek.

"I come here to think sometimes," Ino admitted with a sheepish smile. "I must admit your visit caught me off guard. To what do I owe the honor, Kazekage-sama?"

Gaara fingered something from the depths of his pocket. "You may want to sit down when you hear this."

She nodded in bewilderment and seated herself on a smooth rock, tilting her head to the side like a curious sparrow.

"Is anything wrong, Kazekage-sama?"

He must admit that he had not given a lot of thought to what he was about to do but lately, the elders of Suna had been pushing him to pick a kunoichi from Konoha to replace Temari, who had joined the Hidden Leaf after her marriage to its top strategist, Nara Shikamaru. Their most favorite choice had been Haruno Sakura, who was not only one of the top medics of the Hidden Leaf but an apprentice of the Hokage herself. Hyuuga Hinata would have been an excellent choice, too, if she was not the Clan Heiress.

He wondered, though, why Yamanaka Ino never crossed their minds. She was certainly one of the more talented kunoichi of the Leaf, graduating as the top kunoichi from their Academy. Their batch had produced different kinds of geniuses from the most prominent of clans. While the Yamanaka Clan did not enjoy the same prestige as the Hyuuga or Uchiha Clans, it was not without its own history of excellent shinobi, the deceptively pretty woman in front of him among one of them.

"Kazekage-sama?"

He drew the small box from his pocket and flipped it open. "Yamanaka Ino, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Yamanaka Ino blinked at the Kazekage in disbelief. "Pardon?"


	3. Ch 3: The Consequences of Agreement

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Naruto.

**Chapter Three**

**The Consequences of Agreement**

He was half-certain it was karma punishing him for his past misdeeds and overall destructive and murderous way of life — if he believed in karma, that is. If not, he could always blame it on choosing the wrong woman to propose to but out of an ungodly amount of pride, he could not bring himself to admit he was wrong. He decided to blame the unseen forces, instead.

It had been two weeks since he asked Yamanaka Ino to marry him and two weeks since she laid down the pre-nuptial stipulations of their arrangement. In all honesty, he expected her to turn him down flat; not take him up on his proposal and lay down a few ground rules herself. Nonetheless, he found himself almost proud of the way she calmly agreed — right after she let him painfully reiterate his abrupt request for her hand in marriage — and told him that no, she could not get married to him as soon as possible. It would have to be after a grace period of three weeks, which they would spend getting to know each other. He could have told her everything she needed to know about him and Suna but she gave him a strange look and an even stranger answer.

"Kazekage-sama, even if this is just something we agreed on as a necessity, I want us to be friends, at least."

He glared at the merry heads of orange, yellow, and purple that bobbed lightly as he tended to the enriched soil they grew on. He had spent the past half hour fertilizing the flowerbeds per the instructions accorded to him by his newly acquired fiancée. There was a time when he could have just glared at a person and go on his way in peace but it seemed that glaring was a threat that had no effect on Yamanaka Ino whatsoever. She merely planted her hands on her slim waist and told him that he was going to fertilize the flowerbeds. He was half-surprised when he actually summoned his sand to gather the necessary tools and started seeding nutrients into the soil.

"Gaara-sama."

He turned around to find Ino in a worn apron with a trowel in one hand. She grinned widely at him. "Looks like you need help."

He grunted and made a little room for her to settle in. She just shook her head and began to sow fertilizer into the beds.

"I dropped by the Hokage Tower this morning," he muttered. He was not sure why he was telling her this. She certainly did not need to know whatever he did during the day and she most certainly did not ask. "The papers for your transfer are ready."

She smiled sadly. "So they are."

"We will be leaving for Suna next week."

"Hai." She stopped digging for a moment and looked pointedly at him. "Gaara-sama, what is your last name?"

Her question caught him off guard. "My last name?"

She nodded. "I always assumed 'Sabaku no' was just a title," she shrugged. "You know, something to strike fear in the hearts of your opponents or something."

She was teasing him again. Like the time she called him Shinn even though she knew full well who he was.

"It's…actually my last name," he admitted quietly.

"Thank you," she replied quietly.

He glanced briefly at her. "What for?"

"For entrusting it to me. It's not something you give away easily." She raised her eyes and met his own serious pair. They were studying her intensely, almost like he was seeing her for the first time. It was a thoroughly unnerving experience, to be the object of the study of those eyes, but Ino felt almost drawn to them. Almost everything was new to those eyes, almost everything was an immense discovery, and it seemed to her that he was just beginning to try to unravel her. She did not know how to feel about that.

"Ominaeshi," he murmured, his voice just a whisper of breath.

She blinked. "Nani?"

"You remind me of _ominaeshi_," he clarified.

She could feel something warm cloud her cheeks at the sentiment. "A-arigatou, Gaara-sama. I think."

"It was a compliment," Gaara smirked.

He smiled slightly and went back to work but Ino had to take a few moments to remember how to breathe.

* * *

"_A mission, Hokage-sama? But I'm not on active duty!"_

_The older woman waved off her excuses like she was swatting flies in the air. For a woman as physically strong as the Fifth, that was saying something._

"_Nonsense. You don't have to be on active duty for what I have in mind." The clear gaze pinned the younger kunoichi with unerring precision. "I heard the young Kazekage has been dropping by your flower shop frequently."_

_Ino did not know how to answer to that. She opted to tell the truth. "Yes."_

_The Hokage smiled mysteriously and sat back on her chair. "Yamanaka Ino, your mission is just that. The Kazekage."_

"_I don't understand," Ino murmured._

"_The Council of Sunagakure no Sato has been demanding a replacement ever since Temari married Nara. Not only that, they've been trying to get their Kazekage settled down."_

"_Oh." She could see where this was headed._

"_Unfortunately, other Villages want the Sand for an ally as well. In a few months, the Stone's Kage will be sending his daughter to Suna to score the deal but we can't let them get ahead of us, can we?" Tsunade smirked as she laced her fingers together. "Your mission, Yamanaka Ino, whether you choose to accept it or not, is to marry the Kazekage and secure the Sand as allies of Konoha. Should you succeed, this will be your final mission and you will be released from your duties as a kunoichi of Konohagakure no Sato."_

_Ino could not have been more surprise and her expression couldn't have been more incredulous. "I'm supposed to snare Sabaku no Gaara?"_

"_In a way, yes."_

_The last of the illustrious Yamanaka Clan of Konohagakure no Sato stared at the woman in shocked disbelief. She could have offered a few hundred reasons why the Hokage was off her rocker, that what she was suggesting was just plain _wrong_ but she knew better than to voice such arguments. The orders of the Hokage were perfectly grounded. Was not a kunoichi supposed to serve for the welfare of Konoha? Sunagakure would make a useful ally just as the Sand Village could be a formidable opponent. If she could, she would have to seal the alliance between the two Villages before another beat her to the punch. It was the purpose of a kunoichi of Konoha to be of use to Konoha._

"_Was there any other candidate for the position?" she finally managed._

"_Unfortunately, there is no other suitable candidate. The job rests solely on your shoulders."_

_She bowed stiffly before the Hokage. "I will endeavor to fulfill the mission you have accorded to me, Hokage-sama."_

_Tsunade smiled briefly. "Your father would have been proud of you, Yamanaka."_

"_I can only hope he will approve, Hokage-sama."_

_Tsunade watched as the young woman exited her office rigidly after the necessary formalities. Her assistant, Shizune, emerged from the scrim that decorated a part of her office for that particular reason — making sure the alcoholic Hokage did the right job._

"_I think that went pretty well," the slug Sannin murmured to her companion._

"_I think you did a great job," Shizune smiled. "And I think Yamanaka-san was marvelous. I think she'll make a fine wife for the Kazekage. Her skills might not be meant for open combat but that girl has a backbone of steel to manage her own in a diplomatic mission."_

"_Even a lifetime one?"_

"_Who knows?" Shizune smiled faintly. "It might not be so much of a mission in a few years."_

_Tsunade sighed. "Let's just hope you're right or Yamanaka Inoichi will haunt us from the grave for marrying off his little girl to the big, bad Kazekage."_

3


	4. Ch 4: The Rustle of Grass

**Disclaimer: **Naruto still doesn't belong to me but I'm happy Hinata lives still.

**Chapter Four**

**The Rustle of Grass**

They reached the gates of Sunagakure in record time and Ino bore witness to her fiancé's exacting standards for the first time. After finishing all the necessary paperwork, they made for Suna with her meager belongings and a few tokens – the only reminders of her stint as a kunoichi of Konohagakure no Sato. Gaara had disdained the idea of a guard to accompany them, stating that it will only hinder them and Ino had agreed. The journey took all of her effort as a kunoichi to not fall as Gaara drove them ever closer to his Village like a madman.

It took all of her effort as Yamanaka Ino to not complain. When the hazy outline of the Sand Village finally came into view, she could not have been happier and more _relieved_. Finally! A break!

"Gaara-kun," she stopped him, when he moved even faster. He never suggested such familiar use of his name but it was so like her that he left it at that. "Gaara-kun, stop!"

His glare nearly chilled her marrow but she held her ground as his green eyes demanded an explanation the way only a former container of Shukaku could.

"I need to fix myself for a moment."

Gaara could not believe his ears. They were on the borders of Sunagakure, so close to home and the woman insisted on fixing her appearance! Fix her appearance in the middle of the desert! The woman had to be slightly insane, probably from dehydration.

"There is no need," he intoned. "Everyone will know we have travelled through the desert. It is hardly necessary."

"Yes, but do they have to think you dragged your fiancée through the sands?" she replied impatiently. "Just a moment. I won't take long."

_Dragged her through the sands?_ Was that what she thought he had been doing? Gaara sat down and mulled the thought over as Ino tried to make herself presentable – as presentable as the sandstorms of Wind Country would allow. In that brief span of time, he was made all the more aware that he had brought a woman home to marry, something the Council had been egging him to do for months, and that he was bringing home Yamanaka Ino, something the Council had not anticipated.

A small smile made its way to his normally set lips. An interesting choice, Temari would say. His sister loved to annoy the Council as much as he did, except that Temari was more overt in her attempts than he was.

"I'm done!" Ino announced and he sighed inaudibly as he stood up, ready to pick up the pace once more.

He ran his eyes over her form in approval. "A sensible choice."

She rolled her eyes and grinned cheekily at him. "What? You thought I was going to change into a mini skirt and high heels?"

He found himself returning the smile. "Perhaps."

"And enrage the esteemed Council of Sunagakure no Sato by my glaring fashion expertise? Not exactly."

Gaara liked the thought of her enraging the "esteemed Council" by flaunting convention. It would be something to entertain him in his busy hours and give the Council a heart attack. Not a bad deal on his part.

Ino pulled on her scarf absentmindedly. "I do not want them to have a bad impression of me. Not your people."

They would be _her_ people in a few weeks' time but she did not want to overstep the boundaries and make presumptions. He could just as easily change his mind and who would stop him? He was the Kazekage. His word was law here.

Ino did not want him to change his mind.

"Gaara-kun?" she yelped when his face appeared mere inches from her own. She let out another sound when he promptly swept her off her feet and into his arms.

She fumed as they sped for the village. "Really, this is hardly necessary. The people have to see me as strong and capable."

"No, they need to see you as my wife," he replied in level tones. He eased up a little at her confused expression. "As my wife, you will not be on active duty. You are to rule Sunagakure by my side and that is what _our_ people need to see."

_Our people_. Ino smiled at the thought. _Our people. I like it._

* * *

Sayuri checked her reflection on the mirror one last time. Not a strand of her lustrous brown hair was out of place. Not a single, minute crease, graced her expensive gold and green kimono. Her _obi _was tied impeccably, showing off a tiny waist and a graceful figure. She looked every bit the graceful, alluring princess from the top of her head to her _yukata_.

"The Kazekage will be arriving soon, milady," one of her attendants bowed. "The men have spotted him and his companion on the borders."

Sayuri preened before the mirror. Yes, the young Kazekage would arrive and find _her_ in his Village, a veritable flower in this godforsaken city of sand. Very few could resist her beauty and those who did were completely taken by her charm. Yes, she would wrangle a marriage proposal from the young lord and live her life in grand style by his side. Her parents couldn't be prouder of their only daughter.

She could see it already.

"He comes!"

Sayuri gathered her shawl and walked carefully out of the hotel lobby to where a crowd had begun to gather at the gates. At the sight of her companion, the massive Shotaro, they began to clear a path for her. She smiled arrogantly beneath her scarf and walked up to the very gates. She had planned her introduction well. She would have him from the first hello, she decided.

She saw his back first, his broad shoulders draped in black. He was talking to one of the guards. The Jounin bowed at his command and Sayuri felt her heart flutter. Such a commanding presence! Yes, he was just the husband she was looking for.

He turned to face the crowd that had come to welcome him and Sayuri noted with irritation that most of them were female and in their early twenties or younger. She would have to do something about that later.

She dropped her shawl carefully at his feet, the delicate fabric floating gently to the sands. He looked down at her and she trembled at the sculpted features before her, the piercing green eyes, and the flaming red hair. She had truly found herself a jewel amidst the sands.

It was too late when she discovered he was carrying someone in his arms.

"I think you can put me down now," an amused voice chuckled from beneath the swaths of white cloth he carried.

Sayuri thought she saw a small smile tilt the corners of the Kazekage's mouth.

"As you wish," he intoned and the bundle of white slid gracefully from his arms.

Slender fingers picked the shawl from the ground and Sayuri saw clear blue eyes dance beneath the scarf. She took the proffered shawl with a small smile. This must be the Kazekage's sister, Sabaku no Temari. It would be wise to get on her good side early on.

"You must be more careful," the blue-eyed girl warned her. "Silk from Hakucho is expensive and especially hard to come by in these parts."

Sayuri smiled pleasantly. "My deepest gratitude, Sabaku no-san."

"No, not yet," the other girl whispered.

Sayuri would have been confused if she had not been herded back by one of the Jounin…Kyoza, she believed was his name. Perhaps she should try remembering their names from now on. After all, they would be her people soon enough.

"Sunagakure no Sato," the red-haired Kazekage announced. Immediately, the crowd fell into hushed silence and Sayuri all the more marveled him for it.

"I bring you Yamanaka Ino, my fiancée."

Sayuri could not believe her ears. Fiancée. Fiancée. _Fiancée. FIANCÉE!_

She watched as the scarf fell to reveal a beautiful young woman, her blonde hair shining like a waterfall of platinum down her back in the glaring sun. Her clear blue eyes looked out with warmth and intelligence. Her smile was brighter when her eyes fell on Sayuri but Sayuri could not find it in her heart to return the smile and befriend Yamanaka Ino, fiancée to the Kazekage.

She _hated_ Yamanaka Ino on the spot.

"She is to be treated with respect as is her due. Treat her as you would treat me. Treat her _better_ than you would treat me," the Kazekage continued and the warning was clear in his voice. "An insult to her is an insult to me. Her injury is mine and I will deal accordingly with those who seek to harm her. Did I make myself clear?"

The hushed crowd erupted into cheers and whistles and the general noise of merrymaking. What was clear was that the Kazekage _cared_ for his fiancée. The boy who carried the burden of a demon inside him for so long cared for one woman, this Yamanaka Ino from Konoha who had visited their village on occasion. With her presence, Sabaku no Gaara would not be as much of a danger as he was before.

But Sayuri was most displeased. She wanted to stamp her foot on the sands of Sunagakure and throw a fit. Instead, she turned calmly to Shotaro and smiled coldly.

"I want her dead. Did _I _make_ myself_ clear?"


	5. Ch 5: Displeasure

**Chapter Five**

**Displeasure**

The hot winds of Suna were doing quite a number on her system, Ino decided, as a young girl brought her a cooling drink made from crushed almonds and strawberries. Gaara had introduced her to the delicacy yesterday and she developed quite the addiction to it. Luckily, being the fiancée of the most powerful man in the village meant she had an unlimited supply of the stuff for free.

She cast her fiancé a veiled look from beneath her lashes and tried to hide a proud smile as he conversed with the laborers working on the aqueduct. He was the epitome of a young and powerful leader. His features were cast into his usual stoic expression as he issued commands quietly with an air of authority. She could not help but feel something blossom in her chest, knowing he chose _her_.

Behind them, the rest of the party fanned out in various degrees of sunburn and heatstroke. The Lady Sayuri did not look too well and she bit back an evil smile at the thought that there was no serving girl to wait on the conceited noblewoman.

"Is something bothering you, Ino-chan?" Gaara's voice interrupted her reverie. His lips quirked into a small smile that did funny things to her pulse rate. "Is the drink not to your liking?"

She shook her head vehemently. "No, Gaara-kun…I was just wondering on why Sayuri-sama was not offered a drink."

Gaara's lips thinned into a stoic expression that had more experienced Jounin backing down. "I was not pleased with her activities last night."

"But to deny her courtesy," Ino murmured, respectfully keeping her eyes down as she placed a hand on his arm, "She could take it as an insult and report to her father. A war with the Grass nin could set back your plans for the aqueduct."

She was not unaware of the battle that took place outside her room the night before. As soon as Gaara had announced their engagement, the Lady Sayuri wasted no time in trying to take Ino out of the equation by sending one of her Jounin aides to attack her in the dead of the night. If she caught the slightest whiff of an insult from the Kazekage, she would no doubt demand retribution in the form of war.

"As always, I would be lost without your counsel," he replied in a low whisper, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. At her surprised reaction, his eyes shifted to their entourage. "They were watching," he explained.

Ino nodded mutely as they continued their tour of the aqueducts. He was doing it again — that thing that made butterflies come to life in her intestinal tract. Only, they seemed like fully matured birds taking wing at the moment.

_Good grief, no wonder the man has a fan club. He was capable of charming the quills off a hedgehog if he put his mind to it!_

* * *

Sayuri watched the brief exchange between the Kazekage and his fiancée, the thrice blasted Yamanaka Ino. The Village was in quite a stir over their Kage's recent announcement and his unusual behaviour towards the woman he had just brought home. It seemed like this was one of the rare moments the Kazekage actually displayed affection for anyone.

And he was doing it more often than they were all accustomed to.

Not only was he clearly enamoured by his fiancée, he was also fiercely protective of her, as the unfortunate Shotaro found out the painful way last night. Sayuri had sent her largest henchman to _disable_ her rival in the cover of darkness, believing everyone to have been asleep, only to find out that the sand that formed the Kazekage's nearly impenetrable defense was also guarding Yamanaka Ino's room.

Based on reports from the rest of her entourage, Shotaro was lucky to still be alive. Sayuri inwardly rolled her eyes at the thought of it. Men tended to exaggerate their injuries into glorious feats of heroism.

However, one thing made itself clear to Sayuri: Yamanaka Ino was _not_ a kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf. If she was, she must be long out of practice for she slept clear through the entire debacle that took place just outside the door of her suite.

Either that or she was secure in the knowledge that her fiancé would pull out all the stops for her protection. Sayuri preferred to believe the former.

She smiled bitterly as she watched the Kazekage motion for the party to move on with their tour. A young serving girl ran up the steps to retrieve the glass from Ino before the Kazekage took her slender fingers and tucked them into his arm before moving on.

It should have been her with her hand on his arm. Ino's hands were slender, yes, and feminine but they were tainted by the work she did in her flower shop and her stint at the Training Academy in her girlhood. Hers, on the other hand — pardon the pun — were soft and clean as the hands of the baby. They were the hands of a noblewoman, carefully groomed to sit only on the arm of powerful men like Sabakuno Gaara!

Was the Kazekage too blind to see that?

And yet, despite her impeccable upbringing and education by the most intellectual beings in the Village, Sayuri's eyes refused to see the truth as it glared at her. She would rather plot Yamanaka Ino's ruin than believe that the powerful Kazekage of Sunagakure no Sato had chosen a plain girl from Konohagakure over her, the daughter of the head of Kumogakure no Sato.


End file.
